I have never taken life
Yet I have often paid the price
And you you are a victim of this age
And the guilt that hangs around your neck
Has got me locked up in a cage
You've got to learn to live until no end
But first you must learn to swim
All over again (oh no)
Because...
Pain lies on the riverside
And pain will never say goodbye (oh no)
Pain lies on the riverside
So put your feet in the water
Put your head in the water
Put your soul in the water
And join me for a swim tonight
I have forever, always tried
To stay clean and constantly baptized
I am aware now that the river's banks are dry
And to wait for a flood
Is to wait for life
I've got to learn to live until no end
But first I must learn to swim
All over again (yeah yeah yeah)
Because...
Pain lies on the riverside
And pain will never say goodbye (oh no)
Pain lies on the riverside
So put your feet in the water
Put your head in the water
Come on, put your soul in the water
Join me for a swim tonight
For a swim tonight (oh my love)
I've got to learn to live until no end
But I've got to learn to swim
All over, all over
All over again (yeah yeah yeah)
Because...
Pain lies on the riverside (ohoho nanah nanah)
Pain will never say goodbye (oh no)
Pain lies on the riverside
So put your feet in the water
Put your head in the water now
Come on, put your soul in the water
Join me for a swim tonight (yeah)
For a swim tonight
Got to swim
All over, all over, all over
All over again
Got to live
All over, all over, all over
All over again

General CommentPain is a constant part of life, and something you cannot avoid. Ever. No matter what you do, you will always hurt. It is an unavoidable truth.

Even if you do manage to avoid pain for brief periods, you will always go back to it. Think of swimming. Can you swim forever? No, but you can't wait for the pain to just go away, you have to constantly work to move past it and to keep yourself pure and improving as a human.

Song MeaningTo me, this song is not only a musical masterpiece, but also a journey into mysticism, align with Ed K.'s interest for hinduism. In that belief system, we are not born one day to die the next. We are here on a journey, a small experience part of our eternal existence, and not on a beginning-end type of road. Just like moving from kilometer 345 to 346, on a trip made of millions of kilometers. And what you experience in that very kilometer (a moving sight, a funny sign, etc...) will make your soul evolve further. Learning and evolving are the ultimate spiritual objectives.

This perception of reality is the KEY to happiness: living happy now, today. Knowing that there isn't really a beginning and end, rater variations to our route, and that it is possible to live free and happy regarless of the situation. It is often said that westerners (like me!) have everything to be happy, and yet, continually strive to reach that state. We base too much of our happiness on the pursuit of projects (debut and end), wich leaves us hungry again for something else after to look forward to, without taking the time to live and appreciate NOW. We keep living with yesterday's regrets, and tomorrow's anticipation. That applies very much also to materialistic considerations that, once acheived, do not provide happiness for very long. Material goods are instruments to facilitate our lives, but true happiness has to come from within, from all the things we can't touch, see, but rather only feel and experience. This sense of achievement when you learn something new, for example.

To me this is the essence of this song.

"You've got to learn to live until no end" - That says it all, as above

"First you must learn to swim all over again" - Changing our paradigm on life; not swimming from point A to B, but rather swimming, constantly, through eternity, since human objectives (our end results) keep us locked in our mortal scheme of thought, rather than having us embrassing eternity.

"locked up in a cage" - the cage of the current human perception on life. We are mortal biologically, but spiritually immortal. The body is only a temporary vehicle.

General CommentBasically I think the song is talking about how life is full of pains and hardships. As humans we live on the land or the riverside, and the riverside causes us these problems, and seeing how Live commonly use water as a metaphor for a place where they are free and not weighed down by anything, the song says " On land we're weighed down by gravity and emotions. In the water we are free. So join me for a swim tonight." Something like that I believe. Of course I also own a copy of V so my opinion may be completely construed.